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THE 



NIPMUCK INDIANS, 



CALEB A. WALL, ESQ., 



DELIVERED AT 



AUBURN, rvIASS., 



BEFORE THE 



ORASKASO HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 



JUNE n, 1898. 



Press of O. B. Wood. Worcester. M.\ss. 
i8qS. 



v^ 



'^'i^S 



'^7t 



The Nipmuck Indians, 

BY CALEB A. WAEI., Esq. 

This paper was first delivered before the Oraskaso Historical Society, at 
a special meeting held in Auburn, Mass., on June ii, 1898. 



The territory originally com|)rising the old town of Worcester 
included, besides that of the present City of Worcester, the 
whole town of Holdcn which was set oflf in 1740, and the north- 
east quarter of Auburn which was set off in 1778, the latter 
section including the old Common where the Auburn Church and 
Town Hall now stand. To this original territory the first in- 
habitants, the Indians, gave the name of Quinsigamond, from 
the name of the lake bounding it on the east, with its numerous 
aliases, Quansigamaug, Quonsicamug, Quansigamog, etc., etc., 
meaning in the Indian dialect, " fishing place for pickerel." 
This is one of the earliest places in the interior of New England 
to which the attention of the first settlers from the seaboard or 
coast was directed, towards the west. Plymouth, the oldest 
New England town, was settled on the arrival of the Pilgrims 
in the Mayflower, in the bleak month of December, 1620. 
Within ten years from that date a large number of new towns, 
including Weymouth, Braintree, Salem, CharlcstoAvn, Lynn, 
Boston, Roxbury, Watertown, Dorchester, Cambridge, Med- 
io rd, along the eastern coast, had been settled or incorporated, 
and then movements began toward the interior. Settlements 
began at Concord in 1635, Sudbury in 1638, Lancaster in 
1643, and Marlboro in 1654. Lancaster, the oldest town in 
Worcester County, was incorporated in 1654, Mendon in 1667, 
and Brooklield in 1673, Worcester rankino- the fourth in age 
or time of first settlement of the towns in this county. 

The first settlements or attempts at settlement in all these 
four towns, as well as in many other places in New England, 



were destroyed by the Indian.";. The first settlements 1)egan at 
Worcester or "(^uinsigauiond," in 1674, were burned l)y the 
Indians in December, 1675, tbllowing the destruction 1)y them 
of Mendon, Brookficld, and Lancaster. The second attempt 
at settlement in Worcester began in 1684, when the name 
Worcester was given to the place l)y the General Court, was 
also broken up by the Indians during the wars waged under 
King William and Queen Anne, against the French, termina- 
ting ill 1713, when the third and permanent settlement of 
Worcester began. Of what happened here during the inter- 
veuing period of nearly forty years between the first and third 
settlement, but little record has come down to us except in 
connectioii with the murderous and devastating wars of the 
Indians. 

Previous to the advent of the white man, there were three 
tribes of Indians here, having their respective headquarters on 
three well-known hills. One of them, the largest tribe, com- 
prising about 100 souls, under Sagamore John, had their seat 
on Pakachoag Hill, a little south of where the college of the 
Holy Cross noAV stands ; another trilie under Sagamore Solo- 
mon, dwelt on Asnebumskit* (sometimes called Tetaessit), 
on the south face of which they cam})ed in summer time, in 
the west-northwest part of the town, and another smaller tribe 
was on Wigwam Hill, on the northwestern border of Lake 
Quinsigamond, under Sagamore Pannasanet. These hills took 
their names from the Indians then inhabiting them. 

The rights of these tribes of Indians to all this land, com- 
prising 64 square miles, 43,000 acres, were purchased by the 
Committee of the General Court having in charge the settle- 
ment of the place, the consideration given being " twelve 
jjounds of lawful money of New England, or the full value 
thereof in other specie, two coats and four yards of trading- 
cloth, valued at 26 shillings, and full satisfaction in trucking 
cloth and corn." 

The limits of the Nipmuck (or Nipnet) country Avere not 
well defined, but generally included the central and southern 

■■'Asnebumskit meaning in the Indian dialect, "a place of rocks," or 
" a stony place." ( yide Trumbull.) 



portions of Worcester County and :i few of the adjoinino- 
towns in Rhode Island and Connecticut. 

These Indians possessed a milder and less warlike character 
than most of the neighboring tribes, and were accordingi^'^ 
brought in subjection to them. What was the nature of this 
subjection, or in what special relation to the other tribes they 
stood, cannot lie stated with accuracy. But it is known that 
they paid a tribute. The tirst mention made of this Nipmuck or 
Nipnet country is by Gov, John AVinthroi), who, with others, 
made an excursion up Charles River in January, 1632. After 
they had gone up aliout fifteen miles, he says, "they ascended 
a very high rock, where they might see all over Nipnett, and 
a ver}^ high hill due west." No wkite man, probably, ever set 
foot on its soil till the fall of l(io5, when it was traversed by a 
company of 60 English emigrants, who, thinking themselves 
straightened for land in Massachusetts Bay, had determined, 
thus early, to go to the more fertile banks of Connecticut 
River. 

No other notice appears to have been taken of the Nip- 
mucks or their country until the benevolent project of con- 
verting the Indians to Christianity was undertaken by the 
Indian Apostle Eliot at Nonantown (Newton), where the 
first Indian Church was formed in 1646, and removed to 
Natick in 1651. The next one organized was at Hassana- 
misco (Grafton), in 1652. This latter is described as lying 
'^38 miles west from Boston, and two miles easterly of Nip- 
muck (now called Blackstone) River, and near unto the old 
road waj'^ to Connecticut River." This " old roadway to Con- 
necticut River," used before the "new country road" from 
Boston, through Marlboro and Shrew^sbury, over the head 
of Lake Quinsigamond and Lincoln Street and out along the 
old " Joe Bill" road westerly,* .crossed Nipmuck River near 
what is now Saundersville in Grafton. John Eliot, in an 
account of his success in his good work, written in 1654, 
said : " Hassanamisco has become the central point of civiliza- 
tion and Christianity to the whole Nipmuck country." A 

* This formed a part of the original "Bay-Path" to the Connecticut 
River. 



6 

school was established, and the Bible read and studied in the 
Indian lanouage. Young men were here educated and sent 
into the neighboring towns to preach the gospel. A regular 
government was created, and the forms of law were strictly 
observed. Gookin says the name of Hassanamisco or Hassa- 
namisitt, signifies in the Indian dialect, " a place of small 
stones," probably from the large number of pebbles or rounded 
stones washed up by the river and its branches, a great many 
of which may be picked up on the borders of the streams 
through Saundersville, Farnumsville and vicinity. 

A number of years elapsed after King Philip's war, before 
the few remaining proprietors of Hassanamisitt returned to 
make it a residence. Most of them lived with the Natick In- 
dians, and came here occasionally only, for the purpose of 
planting corn and making cider. In 1698 five families had re- 
turned, among them James Printer (Black James), who was 
noted for his agency in printing the Indian Bible, as well as 
for his great intelligence. In 1681 commissioners were ap- 
pointed by the General Court to examine into the claims of 
the Indians and see how they could be extinguished. Subse- 
quently they purchased a tract of land south of the river of 
49 of them for the sum of £50 and a coat. The Indians re- 
mained sole proprietors of Grafton till 1718, when Elisha 
Johnson and others, first settlers of Sutton, purchased this 
tract, or a part of it, and built the road from Grafton to 
Saundersville, over the two branches of the iriver before 
spoken of. 

Among the most celebrated of the praying Indians was 
"James the Printer," or "Black James," abov^e referred to. 
When a child he was instructed at the Charity Indian School 
at Cambridge, under direction of Gookin and Eliot. In 1659 
he was put to an apprenticeship of 16 years. He had attained 
some skill in printing, and might have obtained more, if, as 
Hubbard says, he had not run away from his master before his 
time was out. Rev. John Eliot, in a letter telling of the slow 
progress made at that time in the printing of his Indian bible, 
that they had been much hindered by sickness of the workmen, 
and they had then but few hands, one Englishman, and a boy, 



and one Indian — this was James the Printer. He was at one 
time teacher to five Indian families at Hassanamisco. 

In 1725 there were 32 Indian proprietors at Hassanamisco, 
including several descendants and relatives of James the Prin- 
ter : George Ciscoe and wife ; Ami Printer and wife ; Moses 
Printer, wife and family, 7 ; Andrew Abraham and family, 8 ; 
Peter Muckamug (in right of Sarah Bobbins, his mother) and 
family, 3 ; Joshua Ciscoe and wife; Ami Printer, Jr., and 
family, 4; Abimelech David (in right of his wife) and family, 
3 ; and Peter Lawrence, Andrew Abraham, resided at the old 
Fordway, the place of crossing Blackstone River, at Saunders- 
ville, near the old James Leland place, afterwards of Deacon 
John McClellan, and his son John E. McClellan. 

These Indians made but little proficiency in agricultural 
knowledge, chiefly confined to raising apples and making cider, 
which they used to intoxication. Their attempts in the me- 
chanical or manufacturing direction were confined to the man- 
ufacture of baskets and wooden brooms. 

Mary Printer, alias Thomas, the last of the full-blooded 
Indians of this tribe and the last blood descendant of the Has- 
sanamesits, died in Worcester, Feb. 10, 1879, the wife of 
Gilbert Walker, the noted hair dresser and barber, Sarah 
(Boston) Walker. Her mother, Sally Boston, who was well 
known throughout Worcester County, was born in Grafton, 
Feb. 21, 1819. 

Maj. Gen. Daniel Gookin, of Cambridge, who was born in 
Kent Co., Eng., and first settled in Virginia, in 1639, and in 
Cambridge, in 1644, was the superintendent of all the Indians 
that had subjected themselves to the colonial government. He 
was accustomed to accompany the apostle Eliot in his mission- 
ary tours. While Eliot preached the gospel to the Indians, 
Gookin administered civil affairs among them. 

In 1636, Plymouth Colony enacted laws to provide for the 
preaching of the gospel among the Indians, and ten years later 
the Massachusetts Colony passed a similar act, under which, 
or in accord with which, the good work of Gookin and Eliot 
was done, though their efforts went beyond the letter of the 
law, in the direction of humanity, for the uplifting and Chris- 



tianization of the Indians, and nothino- in this direction appears 
to have been (h)ne by the Colonists until the ^vol■k was taken 
hold of by Eliot and Gookin. 

Gen. Gookin, who knew more about the Indians of his 
time, in this country, than any other person, has put on record 
his work among them for their benefit. He included in his 
description of the Nipnmck country, so called, ten villaoes of 
" Christian Converts," Christianized by his efforts in conjunc- 
tion with the Apostle P]liot. These ten villages, particularly 
described by Gookin, were Hassanamisit, now Grafton ; 
Manchoag or Manchage, now Oxford; Chabanahonkamon, or 
Chal)ungabungamaug, now Dudley — this giving the name to 
the lake in that ]mrt of old Dudley, now Webster; Maanesit, 
Quantisset and Waquisset, in Woodstock, Ct. ; Waetung, now 
Uxbridge ; Weshakim, or Waushacum, in Sterling; Qual)oag, 
in Brooktield — giving the name to the Quaboag Historical So- 
ciety ; and Pakachoag, Asnebumskit and Wigwam Hill, in 
Worcester. 

From the position of these places the domain of the Nip- 
muck's must have extended over all the south, and [lart of the 
north of what is now the County of Worcester, and included 
an adjoining section of Connecticut. On the south were the 
Pequots and Narragansotts ; on the east what were called the 
Massachusetts Indians ; and the Merrimacks on the north. 
The principal settlement of the Indians in Worcester, as before 
stated, was on Pakachoag or Bogochoag Hill, extending 
south into what is now Aulnirn ; another tribe was on Asne- 
bumskit Hill, and another smaller tribe made their ren- 
dezvous on Wigwam Hill, on the northwest shore of Lake 
Quinsigamond, where war relics of the Indians have been 
found. Gookin descril)es the Indian village on Packachoag or 
Bagachoge Hill in 1(574, as follows: "This village lieth about 
three miles south from the new roadway (the then country road, 
so called) that leadeth from Boston to Connecticut, about 18 
miles west-southwest from Marlborough, and from Boston 
al)Out 44 miles. It consists of about 20 families, and hath 
about 100 souls therein. It is seated upon a fertile hill, and 
is denominated from a delicate spring of water called ' pleas- 



9 

ant water,' that is there." This spring is on what was the 
Stearns farm, near the northeast corner of Auburn, a little 
way east of College Street, leading over the hill to Auburn. 

Sept. 28, 1674, Gen. Gookin and the Apostle Eliot visited 
Pakachoas Hill on their return from an excursion amono- the 
nations of red men entrusted to their paternal guardianship, 
Gookin being Indian superintendent, and Eliot generally ac- 
com})anying him. The following description affords a view of 
the condition of the Indians here previous to the b&ginning of 
King Philip's war, when so many of their kindred were exter- 
minated. Here is Gookin's account of his visit to Pakachoag 
Hill, to which he went with Eliot from Dudley and Oxford : 
" We took leave of the Christian Indians at Chabanakongko- 
mon (Dudley), and took our journey 17th of 7th month 
(September 28, new style), 1674, by Manchage (Indian name 
for Oxford), to Pakachoag, which lieth from Manchage, north- 
west about twelve miles. We arrived there about noon. We 
repaired to the house of the Sagamore called John, alias How- 
wanninit, who kindly entertained us. There is another Saga- 
more belonging to this place, of kindred to the above, whose 
name is Solomon, alias Woonakochu, chief of the Tetaesett 
tribe, whose seat is on Asnebumskit. This man was also 
present, and courteously welcomed us. As soon as the peo- 
ple could be got together, Mr. Eliot preached unto them, and 
they attended reverently. Their teacher, named James Speen, 
read and set the tune of a psalm that was sung atfectionately. 
Then was the whole duty concluded with prayer. 

"After some short respite, a Court was kept (or held) among 
them. My chief assistant was Wattasa Companum, ruler of 
the Nipmuck Indians, a grave and pious man of the chief 
Sachem's blood of the Nipmuck Country. He resides at Has- 
sanamisset (now Grafton), but by former appointment calleth 
here, together with some others. The principal matter done 
at this Court was first to constitute John and Solomon to be 
rulers of this people and co-ordinate in })()wer, clothed with the 
authority of the Englit?h government, which they accepted; 
also to allow and approve James Speen for their minister. 
This man is of good parts, and pious. He hath preached to 



10 

this people iilmost two years, but he yet resides at Hassana- 
misset, about seven miles distant (from Pakachoag) . Also 
they chose, and the Court confirmed, a new constable, called 
Matoonus. Then I gave both the rulers, teacher, constable, 
and people, their respective charges, to be diligent and faithful 
for God, zealous against sin, and careful in sanctifying the 
Sabbath," Gookin then commissioned Jethro, of Natick, one of 
the most pious and distinguished of the converted Indians, to 
be a teacher in the tribe at Nashaway, or Weshakim, with a 
letter of advice and exhortation to his brethren there, whom 
Eliot had never visited. One of that tribe happening to be pres- 
ent at this Court, declared that he was desirously willing, as 
well as some others of his people, to pray to God, but that there 
were many of them very wicked and much addicted to drunken- 
ness, and thereby many disorders were committed among 
them ; and he entreated Gookin to put forth his power to 
suppress this vice — an emphatic indorsement of the prin- 
ciple of prohibition. The Nashaway Indian was asked, 
" whether he would take u})on him the office of constable 
and receive power to apprehend drunkards, take away their 
strong drink, and bring the offenders before the Court for pun-' 
ishment." Like some modern })oliticians, wishing before de- 
claring his decision as to acceptance until he had "sounded 
public sentiment at home," the candidate for constabulary 
honors replied, that he would first speak with his friends, and 
if they chose him and would strengthen his hand in the work, 
he would come for a black staff' and authority. The appoint- 
ment of Jetliro for teacher, and another Indian for constable, 
at Nashaway, concluded the business of this celebrated Indian 
Court held by Gen. Gookin at Pakachoag Hill, Sept. 28, 
1674, first court of any kind in this part of New England ; 
the exercises on that occasion being concluded with psalm 
singing and prayer, after which all retired to rest. 

The next morning, early. Gen. Gookin, the Apostle Eliot 
and party, passed to Marlborough, and thence to their respec- 
tive homes in Cambridge and Roxbury. 

Gookin has the following description of the Indians at 
Chabanakonkomun, or Chabungabungamaug (Dudley), made 



11 

during one of his visits there : " About five miles distant from 
Manchage (Oxford), is a town called Chahanakonkomun. It 
hath its name from a very great pond about five or six miles 
long, that borders upon the southward of it. This village is 
55 miles southwest from Boston. There are about 9 families 
and 45 souls. The people are of sober deportment, and better 
instructed in the worship of God than any other of the new 
praying towns. Their teacher's name is Joseph, who is one 
of the Church of Hassanamessit, a sober, pious and ingenious 
person, who speaks English well, and is well versed in the 
scriptures. He was the first that settled this town, and got 
the people to him about two years since. It is a new planta- 
tion, and is well accommodated with uplands and meadows. 
At this place dwells an Indian called Black James, who, about 
a year since, was constituted constable of all the praying towns. 
He is a person that hath approved himself diligent and cour- 
ageous, faithful and zealous to suppress sin ; and so he was 
confirmed in his oflSce another year. Mr. Eliot preached unto 
this people, and we prayed and sang psalms with them, and 
we exhorted them to stand fast in the faith. A part of one 
night we spent in discoursing with them and resolvino- a 
variety of questions propounded by them, touching matters of 
religion and civil order. The teacher Joseph, and constable 
James, went with us unto the next town, which is called Man- 
nexit, or Mannesit (Woodstock, Ct.), about seven miles west- 
erly from Chabanakongkonum. It is situated in a very fertile 
country, and near unto a fresh river upon the west of it, called 
Mohegan River. It is distant from Boston about 60 miles, 
west and by south. The inhabitants are about 20 families, 
and we compute about 100 souls. Mr. Eliot preached unto 
this people out of the 24th Psalm, 7th verse to the end : Lift 
up your heads, oh, ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlast- 
ing doors, and the King of glory shall come in, etc. After the 
sermon was ended we presented to them John Moqua, a pious 
and sober person there present, for their minister, whom they 
thankfully accepted. Then their teacher named and set and re- 
hearsed a suitable psalm, which was sung, and a prayer made, 
and the teacher exhorted to be diligent and faithful, and to 



12 

take care of the flock whereof the Holy Ghost had made him 
overseer, and the people also to give obedience and subjection 
to him in the Lord." 

In his description of Hassanemissit (now Grafton), at this 
time (1674), Gookin speaks of it as " a town of praying In- 
dians, about two miles eastward of Nipmuck (now Blackstone) 
River, and near unto the old roadway to Connecticut, consisting 
of about twelve families and about sixty souls. "Here," says 
Gookin, "they have a meeting house for the worship of God, 
after the English fashion of building, and two or three other 
houses after the same mode. In this town was the second In- 
dian church, gathered in 1671, Natick being the first, and 
three years afterwards there were in full communion in this 
(Hassanamessitt) Church, and living in the town, about six- 
teen men and women, and al>out thirty baptized persons, and 
several other members livino; in other places. The pastor here 
is Tackuppawillin, with a ruling elder and deacon." 

Of the Manchage (Oxford) village Gookin speaks as 
being " eight miles westward of Nipmuck River," and " ten 
miles west and by south from Hassannamessitt, and from Bos- 
ton about fift}^ miles ; to it belongeth about twelve families and 
about sixteen souls. For this place," he says, " we appointed 
Waaberktamen, a hopeful young man, for their minister." 

The aid of the General Court was promised to all the pray- 
ing Indians, through Gookin, in grants of land for their benefits 
"on condition of their subjection to the yoke of Christ," and 
this promise would have been carried out on those conditions 
to all of them had not King Philip's war broken out and put a 
check to many of Gen. Gookin's contemplated philanthropic 
projects for the benefit of the uncivilized races. 

Westerly of the Indian camps at PaUachoag and Tetaessit 
in Worcester, was a tribe in Towtaid, the Indian name for 
Leicester, whose territory of eight miles square, adjoining- 
Worcester, was purchased of the Indians in 1686, for the sum of 
"£15 current money of New England," by the petitioners for 
the first settlement of Leicester. This territory, which in- 
cluded originally the southern half of Paxton, Spencer and the 
northwest part of Auburn, had been under the jurisdiction of 



13 

Oraskaso as chief Sachem, who had then just deceased, leaving 
two daughters who with their husbands claimed title to the soil, 
and they received the money. It is from this Sachem, whose 
domain extended from the hills in Aul)urn and south Leicester 
to the great Asnebumskit Hill on the north, that the name 
"Oraskaso Historical Society," is taken. His principal camp 
or headquarters was probably on the south side of Asnebumskit 
Hill. 

Westerly of these were the Quaboags of the Brookfields, 
whose history is being well investigated by the Quaboag His- 
torical Society. 

The villages of praying Indians, under the care of Gookin 
and Eliot, easterly of the Nipmucks, included the Ockoocangan- 
setts in Marlborough, Naticks at Natick, Wamesits in what is 
now Lowell, Nashol)ahs in Littleton, Maguncooks in Hopkin- 
ton, and Pakemits in Stoughton, being the Indian names of 
those towns. All observed the same decorum for religion and 
order, having each a teacher, constable, and other officers, as 
the rest have. 

Of the praying Indians at Pakemitt (Stoughton), Gookin 
says: "Here they worship God and keep the Sabbath as is 
done at Natick. They have a ruler, a constable, and school- 
master. Their ruler's name is Ahawton, an old and faithful 
fi-iend to the P^nglish ; their teacher is Wm. Ahawton, his 
son, an ingenious person and pious man, of good parts. Here 
was a very able teacher that died about three years since 
(1671). He was a very knowing person, of great ability, and 
of genteel deporment, and spoke very good English. Here it 
was that Rev, John Eliot, Jr., (son of the apostle), preached 
and lectured once a fortnight, until his decease in l(i(i8." 

The Indian plantation at Marlborough, comprising about 
6,000 acres of good land, "well husbanded, well wooded and 
watered, with several good orchards upon it, planted by the 
Indians," according to Gookin's description in 1674, had ten 
families and al)out 50 souls. This plantation, originally called 
by the Indians, Whipsutieradge, or Whipsuppenicke, was 
granted b}' the General Court to the Indians for a settlement 
long prior to the first grant to the white settlers in that 



14 

vicinity, and comprised the northeast section of the township 
of Marlborough, an arrangement ])eing made with the Indians 
by which they had reserved to them about 150 acres at the 
southeast corner, called the hill jiart, for a planting field, the 
remainder of the 6,000 acres to be laid out adjoining to it as 
might be most convenient for both whites and Indians. This 
150 acres of land, constituting what was the "old common" 
in Marlborough, where the first meeting houses stood, has au 
important history in connection with Gen. Gookin, who pur- 
chased it of the Indians in 1677, for the establishment thereon 
of a free school for the instruction and enlightenment of the 
Indians under the direction of the General Court, a most 
beneficent scheme, frustrated through want of public support 
from prejudice against the Indians on account of the war 
against King Philip, some of the praying Indians who had 
previousl}^ been faithful and true friends of the whites, having 
been induced to join that wily chieftain in his war against the 
white settlers. 

To show that in the beginning of the coming here of the white 
settlers from the old world there was a friendly feeling, which 
might have been made lasting between them and the Indians, 
we have only to refer to the circumstance, among other records 
of the early time, that the greeting, " Welcome, Englishmen ! 
Welcome, Englishmen ! " were the first words which the Pil- 
grim Fathers heard from the lips of a son of the American for- 
est. It was the voice of Samoset, a Wampanoag chief, who 
had learned a few English words from some fishermen whom 
he had come across before he had met any of the new comers 
with whom he had dared to hold communication or speak to. 
The red men had hovered around the little community of new 
comers at Plymouth for some little time before any of them 
had mustered the courage to express themselves, and this they 
then did in a manner which showed the utmost friendly feel- 
ing, which might and should have been cherished and made 
perpetual. Samoset told the new comers in his first words to 
them at this interview, March 21, 1621, to come and share 
with them the land, for the original occupants had nearly all 
been swept away by a pestilence, occasioning a grand field for 



15 

the settling here of those, who, like our ancestors of nearly 
three centuries ago, had been driven from the old world on ac- 
count of religious persecutions, and were desirous of finding a 
shelter where they could enjoy themselves without surrender- 
ino; their relioious and civil riohts. The Pilsirims thanked 
God for this early manifestation of the good will of those they 
found here, and should have ever acted towards the aborigines 
in the same spirit. 

When Samoset again ai)peared he w^as accompanied by 
Squanto, a chief who had recently returned from captivity in 
Spain, and they informed the white people that Massasoit, the 
grand Sachem of the Wampanoags, then residing at Mount 
Hope desired a conference. An interview ])etween the Indians 
and white settlers was planned for this purpose, and the 
old Sachem (Massasoit) came to it at Plymouth, with barbaric 
but friendly Indian " [)omp and circumstance." At this 
interview Massasoit and Gov. Carver smoked the calumet to- 
gether, and a i)rcliminary treaty of friendship and alliance was 
formed (April 1, 1G21), which remained unl)roken for fifty 
years, till within a few years of King Philip's war. Massasoit, 
it is stated, a})proachcd the Pilgrims on this occasion with a 
guard of sixty warriors, and took position at first on a neigh- 
boring hill. There he sat in state and received Edward Wins- 
low as ambassador from the English. Leaving Winslow with 
his warriors as security for his own safety, the veteran Sachem 
went to Plymouth and treated with Gov. Carver. 

John Winthrop, the first Governor of the Massachusetts 
Colony before tlie union of Plymouth, was equally friendly 
with Gov. Carver towards the Indians. Chiefs from the Indian 
tribes dined at Gov. Winthroi)'s table (1630 to 1647), and 
made covenants of peace and friendship with the English. 
Winthro}) journeyed on foot to exchange courtesies with Gov. 
Bradford, the successor of Gov. Carver, at Plymouth, and 
friendly salutations from others, including the Indians, appear 
to have existed until other counsels like those of Gov. John 
Endicott, Rev. John Norton, and Rev. John Wilson, and other 
religious l)igots, j)red()minated, leading to the quarrel with the 
son and the successor of Massasoit and the awful massacres of 



16 

the white settlers following. Gov. John Endicott, who could 
hang four innocent and pacific Quakers, one of them a woman, 
upon the gallows for their religious opinions, could be tit 
instrument for causing Indian revenge and carnage. 

The late William Lincoln, who had probably a better knowl- 
edge of American history than any other native of Worcester, 
except his illustrious contemporary, George Bancroft, put on 
record the following thoughts regarding the fate and destiny of 
the red men, who have been obliged to recede before the ad- 
vancing footsteps of the emigrants from the old world. 

"Before the Europeans came, the condition of the natives 
was peaceful and happy ; they possessed the vast territories 
now occui)ied I)y the encroaching white men ; theirs were the 
deer upon a thousand hills ; no grass grew in their war path, for 
their numbers were as the leaves of the forest. They wandered 
free among their native woods, or rested beneath the shade in 
the indolence they loved so well. The ships approached their 
shores, and from that hour the star of the red men grew dim, 
until it has almost gone -out in darkness. They had, at first, 
hailed the strangers as beings of a superior nature, and rev- 
erenced them as gods come to dwell with mortals ; but they 
soon discovered, that if they were of higher power, they pos- 
sessed all the unholy passions of infernal deities. The inter- 
course was at first friendly. The white men asked for a little 
land to })lant their corn; it was given to them. Then they 
asked for more ; at length the generosity of the owners was 
exhausted and then a system of [)urchase was adopted by which 
the sagacious foreigners took from the simple children of the 
forest whole townships for the consideration of a string of 
beads, counties for a knife, and states for a blanket. Finally, 
when they were strong enough to substitute might for right, 
the invaders seized on whatever they wanted and drove far 
away the original })roprietors of the soil. Cultivation ad- 
vanced, leveling the forest and expelling the game. The Indians 
became aware of their danger when too late to remedy the 
evils brought on them. The little band they had cherished and 
protected in its infant weakness, had arrived to its strength, 
and became the oppressor. The spirit of hostility sprung up ; 



17 

injnrv was revenofed hy injury : contest followed contest ; the 
wigwam was plundered and the house was burnt ; the gray 
hairs of the aged and the tresses of the young maiden hung in the 
cal>in ot the savage ; the heads of the chieftain or his followers 
were bought by the government; the native was hunted as 
the wild beast, and tJie settler was slaughtered like the deer. 
A tirm and etiicient union could not l)e established among the 
roving nations, mutually jealous. The well concocted plans of 
the most wily of the warriors were feel)ly executed, and instead 
of producing powerful confedeiacies, brought forth inefhcient 
conspiracies. Some keen- sighted sachems attempted to stem 
the tide of destruction, ])ut the wave grew big, and rolled on, 
sweeping away the prince and his people. The discipline of 
the soldier, the common danger and the common interest, 
bound the colonists, contentious as they were, to a strict union. 
The Indians fought in dissevered bands, and fell successively 
beneath the exterminating arm of the conqueror. Life and pos- 
essions were taken away, and the Indians knew that they must 
go. A hatred which nothing could appease sprung up in their 
hearts. The destroj'crs lurked around the settlements in the 
vast forests, and no signal preceded their blow. The husband- 
man went out to cultivate his tields armed as if for battle, and 
when he laid down to rest the sword and nuisket were (com- 
panions of his pillow. The sacredness of the Sabbath and the 
sanctity of the house of God, were no protection from the 
battleaxe or scalping knife of the merciless foe when under 
the influence of such revengeful feelings as were the unculti- 
vated savages under the circumstances attending the commission 
of the murderous deeds of which the history of the Indian wars 
is so full." 

A good many may think this too charitalile a view of the 
native Indian character and disposition. But after we compare 
the manner in which the Indians were treated by the Puritan 
settlers of Massachusetts, with the manner in which William 
Penn treated the Indians in Pennsylvania, I am of the decided 
opinion that a great improvement might have been made over 
the manner in which the Indians were dealt with in our section 
of the country in the colonial times, by which these terrible 



18 

incursions by the savages on our settlements might have been 
avoided. Had the voices and influence of men like Eliot and 
Gookin been listened to and followed, instead of the opposite 
policy of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, or rather 
the Christian instead of the old Jewish semi-heathen policy of 
revenge and evil for evil, the awful tragedies accompanying 
King Philip's raid upon the new white settlements might "have 
been avoided. 

Sagamore John, of the Indians on Pakachoag Hill, who had 
been induced by the wily King Philip to join with his men in 
the war against the white settlers, alarmed at the dangerous 
condition of affairs after the defeat and death of King Philip, 
in July, 1776, [)rudently sought safety by timely submission to 
the colonial authorities. July 13, Sagamore John ventured to 
visit Boston to deliver himself up and make terms for his men. 
The Governor and Council had issued proclamations offering 
pardon to the Indians who voluntarily came and surrendered. 

Sagamore John ex[)ressed sincere sorrow for taking part 
against the English, promised to be true to them in the future, 
received assurances of security and protection, and was per- 
mitted to depart. On the 27th of July he returned, bringing 
with him 180 of his followers. To propitiate favor and pur- 
chase ]ieace by an acceptable offering, he had treacherousl}' 
seized Mattoonus, who had shed the first blood in Massachu- 
setts on the beginning of the war at Mendon, July 14, 1675, 
with Nehemiah, his son, both probably natives of Pakachoag, 
and brought them down bound with cords to be given up to 
justice. Mattoonus, having been examined, was condemned to 
immediate death. Sagamore John, with the new-born zeal of 
a traitor and turncoat, in order to signalize his devotion to the 
cause he adopted by extraordinary rancor against the cause he 
deserted, entreated for himself and his men the office of execu- 
tioners. Mattoonus was led out, and being tied to a tree on 
Boston Common, was shot by his own countrymen, his head 
cut off and placed upon a pole opposite to that of his son, who 
formerly suffered on the same spot for a real or supposed mur- 
der committed in 1671, his head still standing on the pole near 
the gibbet where he was hanged five years before. Sagamore 



19 

John and nineteen of those who siiiTcndered with him, w^ere 
phiced under charge of Capt. Thomas Prentice in Cambridge 
during the succeeding winter, escaped to the woods, eluding 
pursuit. Three of the company were executed with some of 
their associates ; eight were shot on Boston Common ; thirty 
were sold as slaves under the milder term of putting out to ser- 
vice, and the residue of the captives were confined to Deer 
Island, where many died by famine and exposure without suit- 
able food or shelter from cold. Compare this with the Christain 
method of Eliot and Gookin. 

When the white settlers commenced building here, in 1674, 
there were between 200 and 300 of the natives. They possessed 
extensive planting fields, and had apple trees, obtained from 
the English. The light of Christianity had dawned upon them 
through the humane efforts of Eliot and Gookin, and some 
advance had been made in civilization. By the sword, by 
famine, by violent removal, and by flight, they were nearly 
exterminated. When the second plantation was attempted, in 
1684, only superannuated old men, women, and children, 
remained of the red people ; those able to bear arms had been 
slain, or dispersed, seeking refuge in Canada among the 
French, or migrating far westward beyond the reach of the 
power they had too much provoked for their own safety. The 
whole nation, as might be said, perished, leaving no monu- 
ments of their existence on our lands, and no remains, except 
little articles of ornament, rude utensils of culinary art, and 
rough weapons of stone, discovered in and around the places 
where they had formerly had their hal^tation. 

That grand philosophic poet, Alexander Pope, l)eautifully 
depicts the better side of the native Indian character in his 
' Essay on Man,' as follows : 

" Lo the poor Indian, whose untutored mind 
Sees God in clouds and hears Him in the ^viud ; 
His soul, proud science never taught to stra}- 
Far as the solar walk or milky waj- ; 
Yet simple nature to his hope has given, 
Behind the cloud-capped hill an humbler heaven ; 
Some safer world, in depth of woods embraced, 
Some happier island in the watery waste, 



20 

Where slaves ouce more their native land behold, 

No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold ; 

To be, contents his natural desire, 

He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire ; 

But thinks, admitted to that equal sky. 

His faithful dog shall bear him company." 

1 have often thouiiht, that, takinir into consideration this 
extract as a truthful })icture of the native Indian charncter, 
before the i)assions common to human nature have been called 
into selfish action, how easy it might l)e to cultivate and bring 
into greater activity the better qualities of the so called savage 
races, and avoid the consequences of giving a stimulus to their 
opposite qualities by treating them on the old time Jewish 
plan of injury for injury. How much more eftective for the 
permanent good of the white man as well as the Indian it 
would be to pursue the truly Christian policy of an Eliot, a 
Gookin, a Penn, or a Roger Williams, than to act as has foo 
generally been done toward the inferior races, exciting them 
to acts of revenge rather than stimulating them to good and 
wholesome deeds l)y considering them as ' children of a com- 
mon Father,' who, as is generally admitted, created of one 
blood all the nations of the earth. 

Who doubts that the same happy experience would have 
resulted from the same humane and Christian practice by the 
Puritans in Massachusetts as by the Quakers in Pennsylvania, 
had the risht kind of treatment been awarded the Indians from 
the time the confiding sons of the forest extended the friendly 
greeting of " Welcome, Englishmen," to the new comers on 
the first arrival of emigrants from the old world to the time 
of the awful massacres by King Philip's men. 

When King Philip was approached in the interest of peace, 
before the l)eginning of his revengeful war, he is reported to 
have expressed himself in the following eloquent and decided 
terms, a's a justification for his unfriendly feelings toward the 
new comers : 

"The English who first came to this country were but a 
handful of people, forlorn, poor and distressed. IVIy father 
(Massasoit) was the Sachem. He relieved their distress in a 



R D 1 4. 8 



21 

most kind and hospitable manner. He gave them hind to build 
and phmt upon. He did all in his power to serve them. 
Others of their own countrymen came to join them. Their 
numbers rapidly increased. My father's counsellors l)ecame 
uneasy and alarmed, lost, as they were possessed with firearms, 
which was not the case with the Indians, they should tinall}' 
undertake to give laws to the Indians and take from them their 
country. They, therefore, advised to destroy them before 
they should become too strong and it should be too late. My 
father was also the father of the English. He represented 
to his counsellors and warriors that the English knew many 
sciences which the Indians did not ; that they improved and 
cultivated the earth and raised cattle and fruits and that there 
was sufficient room in the country for both the English and 
the Indians. His advice prevailed. It was concluded to give 
victuals tt) the English. They flourished and increased. 
Experience taught that the advice of my father's counsellors 
was right. By various means the English got possession of 
a great part of his territory. But he still remained a stern 
friend till he died. My elder brother (Alexander) became 
Sachem. They pretended to sus[)ect him of evil designs against 
them. He was seized and confined, and thereby thrown into 
sickness and died. Soon after I became Sachem, they dis- 
owned all my people. They tried my people by their own 
laws and assessed damages against them which they could not 
pay. Their land was taken. At length a line of division was 
agreed upon between the English and my people, and I my- 
self was to be responsible. Sometimes the cattle of the 
English would come into the cornfields of ui}^ people, for they 
did not make fences like the English. I must then be seized 
and confined till I sold another tract of my country for satis- 
faction of all damages and costs. Thus, tract after tract is 
gone. But a small i)art of the dominion of my ancestors now 
remains. I am det(!rmined not to live till I have no country." 




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